LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants Review

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LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants

The LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants are a waterproof and breathable pant that can be worn through many different weather conditions.  With internal gaiters that can clip down to your boot straps, and fleece-lined front pockets, these pants hit the mark on the slopes and while sipping your well-deserved end of day beer.

Features

The LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants include most features that you would expect out of a quality ski pant.  They are made of LL Bean’s propietary Tek2 fabric, which keeps moisture out while still allowing for internal perspiration to escape.  The Tek2 fabric is guaranteed to be 100% waterproof.  For added breathability on warm days, they include leg vents on the interior of each leg, which are equipped with a mesh lining to keep chunks of snow out.

The pants have internal gaiters, which can be adjusted for larger or smaller boot sizes.  The gaiters are furnished with a hook that attaches to the boot straps, to ensure they don’t ride up while skiing through powder and trees.  As is typical with all ski pants, the LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants have stronger fabric on the interior along the ankle/calf, to minimize rips from boots rubbing along the pant.

The LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants have three zippered pockets, two on the front and one in the back.  The front pockets are also lined to provide some warmth for your hands when walking around basecamp.

I have size medium, which fit well on my 32″ wasit.  The Carrabassett also has belt loops if the size is a little too big.  The back does have an extra wide belt loop in the middle, which can be a bit of hassle to fit a belt through, so this is a slight ding on the practicality of the design, even though it looks cool.  The pants are considered “semi-fitted” and do not have the bagginess that has been popular for the past few years.

Performance of the LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants

I have worn these pants in a few different weather conditions during the early ski season, which included cold and windy days as well as warm bluebird days.  The LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pants stayed warm on cold days with just a light pair of running pants underneath.  On warmer days with temps in the 40s, the pants stayed cool enough, especially once I opened the leg vents.  On these warm days, the pants did not soak through at all, even after having a “picnic” at the bottom of the bunny hill with my sons, where we ate on the snow for about 20 minutes.

While skiing, the pants have not yet gotten in the way of any of my turns or restricted any movements (note: I have only worn these for alpine skiing, not snowboarding or nordic skiing).  I have taken a couple spills, and run through a few tree branches, and the canvas weave fabric is still 100% intact.

The Carrabassett is available in orange, black, and brown in men’s (and various other colors in women’s).  I went with the orange color, as I will be hitting the slopes a lot with a 5 year-old and 2 year-old, so I wanted to make sure they could find me.  To warn you, the orange pants are bright orange, and can be seen from halfway down the mountain.  Since I don’t generally head out of bounds and run from ski patrol, this is a benefit for me.

Final Thoughts

The LL Bean Carrabassett Ski Pant can hold its own with the best out there, especially when it comes to the waterproof and breathable Tek2 fabric.  I have been impressed with the temperature control of these pants in both warm and cool weather, and would recommend these for the skier in your life.

For more info on the Carrabassett Ski Pant and other LL Bean products, visit www.llbean.com.

MSRP: $169

Available in men’s and women’s.  Additional colors available.